Way to go, Guys!!!

I fiquired Fred would have posted by now, so since he hasn't , I'll brag on him a bit. Sunday was even a better day, Fred nabbed the group overall pole on the last lap of qualifying on Sunday morning. The outside pole went to a fellow in a STU BMW 6 cylinder, so we knew it would be tough to hold him off to turn one on the start, and he did make a move and slightly got ahead on outside of T1, he and fred went side by side until T3 where Fred was able to take the lead, but the power of the BMW was bit much for the straight, and the BMW took the lead for good, and the race end with fred 2nd overl in the gorup and first overall in FP, for both SAARC and MARRS.

Fred has a interesting video to sahre with Saturday race, when Greg Crandall's 912 brakes failed going into T1, and you see the 912, pass Fred in the grass backwards, it turned out that Greg, has a bango fitting for the brakes under the car, and he ran over the curb coming on to the front straight,and Fred was able to retake the FP lead because of this, but when they got down to T1, a heavy braking zone, Greg realized he had no brakes and had to make evasive action to avoid hitting Fred. Later Greg told Fred, that running over the curb has loosen the fitting and allowed the brake fluid to escape, this could have turned out alot worse, greg did a great job of handling this situaction, Greg got it all fixed for Sunday and Qualified 5th overall,and 3rd in FP, he manage to get up to 2nd in FP, but couldn't catch Fred.


It was great to be there for Fred's first wins, and the weekend couldn't have went much better. Fred congrats on your double wins, proud of you buddy

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Hap Waldrop
MGexperience Supporting Vendor
Make Sure to check our promotions/product offerings in the Vendor Deals Forum here.

Wish I had been there to watch...

Great job, Fred!

Rick

Thanks Hap, We left the track yesterday around 4 p.m. and it was a good 7+ hour drive home, so needless to say it was early when I got home and the car is still in the trailer. This morning has been catch up at work for the missed days.

Interesting piece of the story, but it was 2006 when my dad and I went to a vintage race at VIR for the first time after it had been re-opened and while there I decided I wanted to go racing. Kind of cool to come back and get a win there. Also great to celebrate it with Hap who has been with me from the very beginning. I told him the win wasn't in an MG, but without the MG and all of those races we did, we wouldn't be where we are today.

I loved the track. It is probably my #2 all time favorite that I've driven. (#1 is purely emotional - my home track of Summit Point). I brought a lot of it home with me too (pea gravel).

VIR is not an easy track to master and it takes more time than I had to learn the genius of its design. There are seconds left out there all over the place.

My brakes are still not perfect either, so there is still a lot of time out there for me in the braking areas at T1 and T14a (entry to the roller coaster), as well as just getting on the gas sooner and using up all the road all around. I did a 2:17:1 which was fast for the weekend, but a couple of seconds off of what the national guys are doing in my class.

As you know I hired Peter Krause to coach me through Friday's test day and I'd do it all over again without flinching. Probably the best money I've spent at the race track. And we are set up to do it again next week in prep for the Glen. He is an all around great guy to begin with, but also a very intelligent driver, very consistent, adaptable and a quick study of his students. He helped me plan my sessions and synced my video with his data and we were able to study with great detail braking and acceleration and how much speed I should be carrying through different turns. He could say, wow you go through oak tree as fast I do, but you brake way too early at the end of the back straight. Or, you are braking inconsistently based on Gs lap to lap ... I cannot imagine how you coach without good data. But what I really like about Peter was that he is an insightful guy and as the day progressed he adapted his style and approach with me. He recognized that I'm not a technical driver, but more by feel of what the car is doing and that for me it is not about not being willing to drive fast, but harnesing that speed in the right ways. So he changed his approach. Instead of taking a technical approach he showed me what I needed to do to hustle around the course. Afterall I had one goal - show up cold but by Saturday be able to compete - Mission accomplished. If you want to know more or would want to consider using Peter, let me know. I can tell you much more about what we did and the tools he has available including private training sessions in iRacing where he is at his shop and you are wherever you are.

Overall, I felt like I matured as a driver because I experienced a lot of hard driving, wheel-to-wheel racing, on track intimidation (Hap I forgot to tell you about the GTL car running me against the grass on my back straight pass), hustling, spinning, grass cutting, unsticking the car and dancing a little and the ever important confidence boosting opportunity of leading overall laps and starting from the front row. I was putting a ton of pressure on myself and it was evident in my stupid mistakes, but also a huge relief to do well in the end.

I'll try and put some video together. I have a lot of stuff and am contemplating a very entertaining highlight video to capture my 4+ spins, cool passes on slower cars, the Porsche incident etc.

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2012 SCCA FP MARRS Champion

Thanks Hap, We left the track yesterday around 4 p.m. and it was a good 7+ hour drive home, so needless to say it was early when I got home and the car is still in the trailer. This morning has been catch up at work for the missed days.

Interesting piece of the story, but it was 2006 when my dad and I went to a vintage race at VIR for the first time after it had been re-opened and while there I decided I wanted to go racing. Kind of cool to come back and get a win there. Also great to celebrate it with Hap who has been with me from the very beginning. I told him the win wasn't in an MG, but without the MG and all of those races we did, we wouldn't be where we are today.

I loved the track. It is probably my #2 all time favorite that I've driven. (#1 is purely emotional - my home track of Summit Point). I brought a lot of it home with me too (pea gravel).

VIR is not an easy track to master and it takes more time than I had to learn the genius of its design. There are seconds left out there all over the place.

My brakes are still not perfect either, so there is still a lot of time out there for me in the braking areas at T1 and T14a (entry to the roller coaster), as well as just getting on the gas sooner and using up all the road all around. I did a 2:17:1 which was fast for the weekend, but a couple of seconds off of what the national guys are doing in my class.

As you know I hired Peter Krause to coach me through Friday's test day and I'd do it all over again without flinching. Probably the best money I've spent at the race track. And we are set up to do it again next week in prep for the Glen. He is an all around great guy to begin with, but also a very intelligent driver, very consistent, adaptable and a quick study of his students. He helped me plan my sessions and synced my video with his data and we were able to study with great detail braking and acceleration and how much speed I should be carrying through different turns. He could say, wow you go through oak tree as fast I do, but you brake way too early at the end of the back straight. Or, you are braking inconsistently based on Gs lap to lap ... I cannot imagine how you coach without good data. But what I really like about Peter was that he is an insightful guy and as the day progressed he adapted his style and approach with me. He recognized that I'm not a technical driver, but more by feel of what the car is doing and that for me it is not about not being willing to drive fast, but harnesing that speed in the right ways. So he changed his approach. Instead of taking a technical approach he showed me what I needed to do to hustle around the course. Afterall I had one goal - show up cold but by Saturday be able to compete - Mission accomplished. If you want to know more or would want to consider using Peter, let me know. I can tell you much more about what we did and the tools he has available including private training sessions in iRacing where he is at his shop and you are wherever you are.

Overall, I felt like I matured as a driver because I experienced a lot of hard driving, wheel-to-wheel racing, on track intimidation (Hap I forgot to tell you about the GTL car running me against the grass on my back straight pass), hustling, spinning, grass cutting, unsticking the car and dancing a little and the ever important confidence boosting opportunity of leading overall laps and starting from the front row. I was putting a ton of pressure on myself and it was evident in my stupid mistakes, but also a huge relief to do well in the end.

I'll try and put some video together. I have a lot of stuff and am contemplating a very entertaining highlight video to capture my 4+ spins, cool passes on slower cars, the Porsche incident etc.

The MARRS prod guys all ended up in the same area around the paddock, so that was cool. The prod group within the DC Region seems to be much more connected than what I saw with SARRC.

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2012 SCCA FP MARRS Champion

Excellent result, and terrific photos to cherish. So good they are posted twice. Nice to put a face to the name.

Mike Adams

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Mike

the SuperB the Blower

Thanks Mike. Funny. No idea how that happened.

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2012 SCCA FP MARRS Champion

Sunday's pole lap.

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2012 SCCA FP MARRS Champion

Fred:

Awesome lap! Congratulations!

What gear ratios are you running? Seems like a really tall first gear? I'm usually in 2nd through Oak Tree... and I counted 3 upshifts for you down the back straight?

Anyway, I was pleased to see we are running almost exactly the same line, but for some reason my lap times are a LOT slower...

What type of data acquisition were you and Peter running? Maybe we can share/compare data?

Rick

Rick, oak tree in second. So I was in fifth at the end of the back straight. I'm running a 4.8 OS Giken limited lip.I have a useable first gear, but I never tried it.

There are a few points I should have been on the gas sooner and create more of an arc through hog pen for greater exit speed for example, but thank you! I was having a lot of fun. I did send Bryson an email asking his braking point at T1 to help confirm that I'm either a wuss or still struggling with stopping the car. Data says I'm not pulling the longitudinal gs I should - .8 vs 1-1.4 - so I'm still a bit suspect.

We used a Traqmate and you are welcome to everything I have. Peter is currently taking my go pro footage and overlaying the data so i'll have a complete file on everything going on with the lap at a given time during the test day.

I bought the this weekend to go with my AIM so now I have video, gps, data etc. that communicates with mydash and Electromotive. It's pretty sweet. The dash powers everything and as soon as it senses I'm moving it automatically starts recording data and video. I've got to sort it out, because for some reason it kept resetting my dash so I unplugged it. I wasn't interested in messing up Sunday's qualify and race.

I'm testing next Friday at Watkins Glen so I'll fool with it more then.

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2012 SCCA FP MARRS Champion

Fred:

Forgot about the 5 speed...

I'd love to swap Traqmate data. I'll ping the team and ask for a file, hopefully with accompanying video.

Rick

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2012 SCCA FP MARRS Champion

Fred,

You haven't been shy about wanting to win, but I just have to say that you're doing it right. Buying the best equipment and being modest enough to learn from others is what will keep moving you forward and make you faster. Keep it up and congrats

Best of luck at Watkins Glen. It's a fast one.

Not sure if this will help, but it's entertaining.

in-car from Marc Cefalo's S2000

I guess I am doing it the wrong way, but it is cheaper, and it's the same view atop the podium.

Not necessarily. Fred can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think he has intentions of going to the Runoffs some day.

Cheers,
Bob

Nice job, Fred. I knew you'd like VIR, it is my favorite track I've been to. I just love the long, winding semi-straight up to oak tree

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If I can't be fast, I'll just be obnoxious!

Really. And you know my intentions how?

Sorry folks. I did not realize that Austin Healeys are not welcome here, but Miatas are beloved.

I am out of here.

Greg,

You can stay, I'm out. I only came back because I was getting email notifications about this thread.

Here, let me spell out what I was trying to say. Fred has the resources, so he bought the car to have, bought parts off the best guy and is getting driver coaching. That's it. He's not trying to reinvent he wheel, or going into this thinking he knows all or doesn't need the help like others before have done. That was the point I was making. Just acknowledging what he has talked about doing. I believe that's called positive reinforcement.

Nowhere did I say Austin Healeys suck, or that you should do the same. I never compared you to Fred. Have fun...



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2012 01:44PM by hoffman900.

Greg, don't pack up for any of what has been said here. I somewhat get Bob, Bob and I are both members of the "foot in your mouth" club I know it sounded condesending, but thats just Bob, I don't think he truely meant any harm, he is from NJ, you know, thats the way they sound even when they are trying to be nice

Greg, you should be flying high right now, you just came off a double win weekend, yeah you broke a diff, but you got two nice throphies to show for it, thats more than I got at the Mitty and damaged a bit more

Greg, enjoyed chatting with you and the Mrs. this weekend at lunch, I didn't realize until then you had Sean's Thompson ex car, you got a good car Greg

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Hap Waldrop
MGexperience Supporting Vendor
Make Sure to check our promotions/product offerings in the Vendor Deals Forum here.

No, I'm out

Seriously guys, WTF!

I'm actually not out. I promised I would never write one of those posts, but just simply disappear. Which I'm not sure I could do either, because I really like Austin Healeys.

Bob, I did say once that going to the runoffs was part of my plan. Year 1 was to get to know the car and race it. Year 2 was to go national racing with a chance of racing at the runoffs.

Going to the runoffs may possibly be less work than the MARRS. Anyway, truthfully, I don't know what I will do. I really like the guys that I'm racing with (Even Greg and his banana peels), so I may be completely content with regional racing.

Regionals or nationals, runoffs or not, either way it doesn't change who I am. I will still want to have a clean car well prepped car and I will still want to go fast and do well.

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2012 SCCA FP MARRS Champion